The present disclosure relates to a fuel system, and more particularly to an Ice and Debris Separator (IDS) therefor.
Aircraft fuel systems, because of the wide range of environmental conditions in which aircraft operate, may be susceptible to ice clogging. The ice, in rare instances, may lodge in servo valves and other calibrated fuel system components.
Conventional aircraft fuel system filters may be limited in ice management. Either the filter is fine enough to filter debris to a desired fine level and may be susceptible to a relatively significant pressure drop due to ice or the filter is designed with respect to ice and is inherently too coarse to filter debris to a desired level. Ice separators that rely solely on geometry to accomplish the separation of ice and debris with no filter screen may also be ineffective because of the wide range of fuel flow speeds typical of aircraft fuel systems.
Icing may not only be an issue for aircraft main engines, but may be an even more acute issue for aircraft Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) as APUs typically rest in flight at a no flow condition, may gather ice, then may suddenly be tasked with operation in a freezing condition.